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In this edition we focus
on the issue of children with a visual impairment who have multiple disabilities
or, as they are described in some countries "children with MDVI".
This has proved a more difficult theme to encompass than you might imagine
because there appears to be little shared understanding about exactly
who these children are.
Although there is no widely agreed definition of MDVI the term is usually
applied to children with complex needs that often include a visual impairment
accompanied by severe learning difficulties and physical disabilities.
The estimates of the incidence of MDVI vary enormously according what
part of the world you live in. Recent surveys in the UK (eg Keil 2002)
suggest that children with MDVI account for between a third and half of
the British population of children with visual impairment. In the UK all
of these children are entitled to education and can be found in a range
of educational provision.
As we can see from the contributions in this issue, in other countries
these children appear to constitute a tiny minority of the population
of children with a visual impairment and they are often excluded from
education altogether. For example in Nigeria, Sr Justina Obiajunwa (the
principal of the Pacelli School for the Blind in Lagos) reports that from
her perspective that although there is some provision for children who
are Deafblind, "we do not have any program for Multiply Handicapped
Visually Impaired persons".
Why are these children so often excluded from education? One possibility
is that given the complexity of their other disabilities, the visual impairment
of children with MDVI may not be recognised and they do not come into
contact with visual impairment services. However even when these children
do come into contact with specialist services, they are often turned away.
As Akhil Paul in India comments in this issue (p25) this rejection of
these children is often rationalised by schools for the visually impaired
on the grounds that "they do not fall within their designated target
group. Sometimes real concerns such as lack of information and expertise,
inadequate infrastructure and poor staff-student ratios are offered as
excuses, but it is mostly schools' lack of ...willingness to work with
these children that forces them back to their cocoon of isolation".
The extreme hardships that face many children with
MDVI and their families are graphically illustrated in the article by
Isuwa Jurmang (pp22 to 24). However on the happier side, there is also
evidence in this edition that an understanding of the distinct needs of
these children is beginning to take shape and that opportunities for teaching
and learning are starting to emerge.
We can see in this edition how specialist provision
has developed in Indonesia, Hong Kong and Thailand. The pattern often
seems to be that services for children with MDVI emerge from provision
for children who are Deafblind. Although some of the techniques commonly
used in the education of children with MDVI (such as the use of Objects
of Reference or Object Symbols) were originally developed for use with
Deafblind children, the needs of children with MDVI and the techniques
for teaching them are beginning to be recognised as distinct. The challenge
that faces us as educators of persons with a visual impairment is to see
children with MDVI as a natural part of our responsibilities. If Education
for All means anything it means education for these children.
Steve McCall
Editor
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